People watch war movies for many different reasons.. after all war movies insight many different emotions.. As for myself.. I believe war movies play important part in reminding us of our history .. and some films are a cut above the rest..

1. The Book Thief 2013 - is a WWII drama based on a 2005 novel by the same name by Markus Zusak .. The film is about an orphan girl (Sophie Nelisse) living with her foster German family.. Hans and Rosa (Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson) and after Hans teaches her to read, she grows enamored with reading.. This movie is truly gut wrenching and heartwarming all at the same time.. there are plenty of dramatic scenes and at times it is truly hard to watch.. but this is definitely a must see film..

2. Allied 2016 - is a WWII thriller movie based on a Canadian intelligence officer (Brad Pitt) who meets a French Resistance fighter (Marion Cotillard) who fall in love while posing as a married couple while on a mission in Casablanca to assassinate a German ambassador.. The two end up married, parents and living in London..  He soon learns that Special Operations suspect his wife of being a German spy .. surveillance, spying, and intrigue abounds...  I highly recommend it..

3. Life is Beautiful 1997 - is an Italian comedy drama is based on a Jewish Italian bookshop owner named Guido.. who employs his imagination to try and shield his young son named Giosue..from the horrors of WWII breaks out and internment in a Nazi concentration camp..

This film is truly gut wrenching.. and was based on Rubino Salmoni who survived the Holocaust.. Salmoni's book is title In the end, I Beat Hitler and tragically describes his experiences in Auschwitz including the loss of his two brothers..

4. Operation Finale 2018 - is a historical drama and is based on the efforts of Israeli intelligence officers to capture former Nazi SS officer Adolf Eichmann in Argentina on May 11 1960.. The movie was based on the memoir of Peter Malkin an Israeli officer Eichmann in My Hands. The film is very engrossing and after seeing it I did some additional research.. I highly recommend this movie..

After the capture of Eichmann in Argentina, he was transported to Israel to stand trial for war crimes.. he had a widely publicized trial and was convicted and executed by hanging in 1962..

5. Schindler's List 1993 - is a historical drama based on the novel Schindler's Ark by Thomas Keneally.. The film follows Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson) a German Bohemian businessman who save the lives of more than a thousand mostly Polish Jewish refugees from the Holocaust by employing them in his factories during WWII..  This movie is graphic, brutally gut wrenching, horrific and yet hypnotizing stunning masterpiece.. I have to be honest I have seen this film several times over the years.. It truly paints a vivid picture of WWII history .. Please watch this movie..

Oskar Schindler 

Oskar Schindler The Untold Story 

6. The Pianist 2002 - is a biographical historical drama that is based on the autobiographical book The Pianist.. a Holocaust memoir by the Polish-Jewish composer, pianist and Holocaust survivor Wladyslaw Szpilman.. The film follows Szpilman (Adrien Brody) as Poland is bombed during Nazi Germany's invasion.. German and Soviet armies invade Poland including Warsaw.. Jews are soon prevented from owning businesses or working .. Szpilman and his family are forced to leave their home and move into the Warsaw Ghetto.. The film follows the heinous conditions that people were forced to endure including starving and overcrowding.. I thought the film offered an insightful and yet brutal account of the German and Soviet invasion into Poland..  I highly recommend this film..

7. The Zookeeper's Wife 2017 - is a historical war drama based on a book by the same name by Diane Ackerman.. The film tells the true story of how Jan and Antonina Zabinski rescued hundreds of Jews during WWII by hiding them from the Germans in their Warsaw Poland Zoo.. The movie features an outstanding cast ..  Dr. Jan Zabinski was the director of one of the largest zoos in the 1930s.. the Warsaw Zoo.. when the German troops storm Poland.. chaos ensues and many of the animals are killed.. Ultimately Jan and Antonina make the decision to use the zoo to save as many Jews as they can from the Germans.. convincing the Germans that the now abandoned zoo can be used as a pig farm in order to feed the German troops..  This film is truly amazing... I loved every minute of it..  I even researched more about the Warsaw Zoo and the Zabinskis after watching the film.. This is a definite must see film for the entire family..  This film tells an inspiring story of two people that literally risked everything to save so many lives..

Jan and Antonina Zabinski 

 8. The Reader 2008 - is a German American romantic drama.. based on a German novel by the same name by Bernhard Schlink.. The film focuses on the story of Michael Berg, a German lawyer who as a teenager in 1958 had an affair with an older woman named Hanna Schmitz (Kate Winslet).. Hanna disappeared only to resurface years later as one of the defendants in a war crimes trial stemming from her actions as a guard at a Nazi concentration camp..  This film is interesting, insightful and gut wrenching all at the same time..  This film is definitely worth watching..
 
Was The Reader based on a real Nazi concentration camp female guard  

Was The Reader based on a real Nazi female guard